America's Health Insurance Plans

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is a lobbying group "representing nearly 1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans," according to its website. [1] "AHIP's principal purpose is to represent the interests of our members on legislative and regulatory issues at the federal and state levels, and with the media, consumers and employers," the site adds. [2]

History

AHIP was formed in 2004, by the merger of the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) and Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA). [3] At the time, AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignani said the merged group would be "very active in the legislative arena." [4] "AAHP and HIAA merger talks go back to 1999--a time when HIAA's members were mostly individual small-group insurers and AAHP members were mainly large managed-care companies," reported one trade publication. "Historical differences in products and policy positions had largely disappeared over the years. As they investigated merger possibilities, they realized their missions were in sync and compatible. The merger increased AAHP's budget by about 40% and created the largest health insurance lobby on Capitol Hill." [5]

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act

Investigation by the National Journal into the 2011 990 forms of both the National Federation of Independent Business and AHIP revealed that AHIP transferred $850,000 that year to NFIB in order to fight against the premium tax that is a key component of the Affordable Care Act.[7] As the National Journal reports, "The back-channel spending shows how insurers were able to fund a key—and much more politically popular—ally in their fight against the premium tax."

"Campaign for an American Solution"

AHIP launched the Campaign for an American Solution in Columbus, OH on July 22nd, 2008. The Campaign is billed as a grassroots campaign and listening tour to "build support for workable health care reform based on core principles supported by the American people: coverage, affordability, quality, value, choice and portability."[8]

Institute for Clinical and Economic Review

AHIP is a significant funding source [1] for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER)[[2]] a non-profit which has been criticized for providing insurers public support in their decisions to exclude prescription drugs from coverage. Steve Pearson, ICER's president and founder, was previously an AHIP senior fellow.[3]

Personnel

AHIP President Karen M. Ignagni frequently serves as a spokesperson for the views of the insurance industry, recently taping an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show opposite Michael Moore to discuss Sicko. In response to a past statement by Senator Hillary Clinton that insurance companies "spend tens of billions of dollars a year figuring out how not to cover people" and "how to cherry-pick the healthiest persons, and leave everyone else out in the cold", Ignagni asserted the AHIP endorses the goal of universal coverage, that insurers deny only 3 percent of claims, and that many of those are for experimental procedures that employers do not cover.

AHIP's Board of Directors is made up of mostly CEOs and Presidents of health insurance companies. They are, as of September, 2008: